Baseboard radiator



March 3, 1964 R. B. DUGGAN ETAL 3,122,933

BASEBOARD RADIATOR Filed April 24, 1961 [i l I I INVENTORS fosspr 5.DUGGA Y MLsou d. Mir-7?, J42

(22. Q a M United States Patent C) F 3,122,983 BASEBSARD RADIATGR RobertB. Duggan and Wilson J. Witten, Jr., Louisvi le,

Ky, assignors to American Radiator & Standard Sanitary Corporation, NewYork, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Fiied Apr. 24, 1961, Ser. No.105,143 2 Claims. (Cl. 98-40) The present invention relates to abaseboard radiator and more particularly to an improved baseboardradiator containing a novel unit for use as a combination damperairsplitter.

Conventional baseboard radiators in use today operate by permitting adraft of cool air to enter the bottom of a housing enclosing a heatingunit and to make contact with the heating unit to become warm. Theheated air then rises and passes through an openin provided in the topof the housing.

The temperature of the room is controlled by regu lating the quantityand direction of the heated air as it leaves the housing. This isaccomplished by providing the opening in the top of the housing with amovable damper or blade which may be used to regulate the draft ofheated air as it leaves the housing and to direct the air to the variousparts of the room.

It has been found that the installation of the conventional damper issomewhat complicated and that the movable surfaces of the conventionaldamper are so situated that they cannot be easily assembled and removed.Hence the installation of such conventional units is neces sarilyinconvenient and expensive.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a baseboard radiatorwith an improved combination damper-air splitter.

Another object of this invention is to provide a baseboard radiator witha combination damper-air splitter which may be easily removed, cleaned,lubricated, and replaced within the housing by the average unskilledperson.

Another object of this invention is to provide a baseboard radiator witha combination damper-air splitter which may be pivotally positionedwithin the housing.

Other and further objects of the invention will be obvious upon anunderstanding of the illustrative embodiment about to be described, orwill be indicated in the appended claims, and various advantages notreferred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employmentof the invention in practice.

A preferred embodiment of the invention has been chosen for purposes ofillustration and description and is shown in th accompanying drawings,forming a part of the specification, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the improved combination damper-airsplitter showing it in position within the housing of a baseboardradiator;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing the individual parts ofthe improved combination damper-air splitter prior to assembl FIG. 3 isa perspective view showing the individual parts of the combination unitin assembled relationship; and

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view along line 4-4 of FIG. 1.

The improved baseboard radiator A, as shown in FIG. 1, comprises ahousing unit 1, a heating unit 2 and a novel combination damper-airsplitter unit 3.

The housing unit 1 comprises a back panel 11 which may be mounted on thebaseboard of a wall (not shown) by any conventional or desired means,for example by screws (not shown).

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The upper portion 13 of the back panel 11 extends upwardly and outwardlyin the shape of an arc to form a top wall and then extends backwardlyforming a horizontal ledge 16 which terminates in a downwardly turnedflange 17. The lower portion 14 of the back panel 11 is provided with arigidifying outwardly bulged channel 18 whose lower side is extended toform an outwardly turned edge 19.

A plurality of spaced hanger brackets 21 (only one of which is shown inthe drawing) are provided within the housing to support a front panel12, the heating unit 2 and the damper-air splitter unit 3 along severalpoints within the housing unit 1. Each hanger bracket 21 is mounted onthe back panel 11 by means of male inserts or tongues 22 and 23 formedin the bracket 21 fitting into female receptors or pockets 24 and 25,respectively, formed in the back panel 11. Back panel 11 is alsoprovided with a locking tab 26 insertable into an opening 27 in hangerbracket 21 to lock the bracket 21 in place. The hanger bracket 21 has aheating unit supporting section 4 extending substantially at rightangles from its lower edge and adapted to support the heating unit 2.

The hanger bracket 21 has a hanger section 5 extending substantially atright angles from the upper part of one edg and comprising a lower arm28 and an upper arm 29. The lower arm 28 is provided with a toe 33 onits extreme end which is adapted to support the front panel 12. Thefront panel 12 has an upper inwardly turned flange 38 adapted to hookover toe 33 and a lower inwardly turned groove 39 adapted to fit under aflange 30 depending from supporting member 4 to hold the front panel 12in place. The front panel 12 is spaced from the top wall 13 to permitheated air to pass therethrough.

The upper arm 29 is spaced from the lower arm 28 and has its upper endprovided with a semi-circular recess or slip-in socket 36 which mayextend over an arc of greater than degrees and adapted to hold thecombined damper-air splitter. Its lower end is provided with aprotrusion 57 to act as a stop for the combined damperair splitter, aswill be more fully discussed hereinafter.

The heating unit 2 of the improved baseboard radiator may be aconventional heating unit. In FIG. 1 the heating unit is shown asconsisting of a heating tube 37 and a plurality of fins 38 attached tothe tube 37. The heating unit 2 is supported on support member 4 ofhanger bracket 21 by a support clip 41 which is provided with runners 42and 43 which may be of a generally V-shaped configuration and which maybe adapted to fit loosely into grooves 31 and 44 in support member 4.

The combination damper-air splitter 3 comprises a longitudinallyextending concave resilient blade or slat 45 having longitudinallyextending retaining hooks 51 and 52 which may extend along its edges topermit it to be secured to a plurality of retaining clips 48 each ofwhich is mounted on upper arm 29 of hanger bracket 21, as will be morefully described hereinafter. The blade 45 may be a singl piece and itmay be provided with suitable extensions, as may be desired. The hooks51 and 52 may be U-shaped.

Each retaining clip 48 may be made from resilient spring material andcomprises a resilient swivel or bearing hub 47 and a pair of supportarms 49 having edges 53 insertable into the hooks 51 and 52 of blade 45.Each hub 47 is adapted to be inserted in receiving socket 36 of upperarm 29 of bracket 21 to hold the blade 45 in position. Each of the hubs47 are provided with peripheral lips 55 and 56 to prevent the clips 48from slipping off the sockets 36 in upper arms 29 of hanger brackets 21.The hubs 47 have restricted opening 50 to give the clip addedflexibility and to permit the arms 3. 49 to pivot on hub 47 when theclips 48 are to be mounted in sockets 36.

The combined damper-air splitter is assembled in the space between topWall 13 and'front panel 12' of housing unit 1 by first squeezing thearms-49 of the spring clip 43 together to compress the hub 47 andinserting the hub 47 into the'socket 36 of upper arm29. When the arms 49are released, the clip 43 will spring out so that the hub 47substantially fills the socket 36 and is frictionally held in place. Toassemble the blade 45 the arms 49 of clip 48 are again squeezed towardeach other until the edges 53 thereof enter the hooks 51 and 52 of blade45 and when pressure is released the arms 49 spring outwardly to holdthe blade 45 in place.

The damper-air splitter 3 may be placed in any desired position merelyby exerting pressure against the upper or lower longitudinal surface ofthe blade 45 so that the hub 47 pivots in socket 36 and the pressure andfriction of the hub 47 bearing against socket 36 will hold the'blade 45in the desired position. The maximum movement of the blade 55 in eitherdirection is determined by toe 38 on lower arm 28 of hanger bracket 21and stop 57 on upper arm 29. When the blade 45 is in the fully closedposition, as shown in broken lines in FIG. 1, it functions as a fullyclosed damper. If the blade 45 is moved in a counter-clockwise directionto the fully open position, it will function as an air-splitter sinceheated air will flow along both sides thereof to be distributed todifferent parts of a room to be heated. However there are any number ofintermediate positions which the blade 45 may assume, as may be desired;

The blade 45 may be easily removed by pressing the arms 49 of clip 48until the edges 53 thereof slip out of hooks 51 and 52 in the blade 45;With the arms 49 under compression, the hub 47 can be easily slipped outof socket 36. Hence, the damper-air splitter can be disassembled withoutthe use of special tools and by a relatively unskilled person.

As is apparent from the foregoing, the present invention provides animproved baseboard radiator containing a novel combination damper-airsplitter which is inexpensive to install and which may be easily removedwithout the use of special tools.

As various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangementof the parts herein without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention and without sacrificing any of its advantages, it is to beunderstood that all matter herein is to be interpreted as illustrativeand not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

1. A baseboard radiator comprising a housing having a rear panel and atop wall, a hanger bracket mounted on said rear panel and having arecess opening formed therein, a front panel mounted on said hangerbracket and spaced from said top wall to provide an air dischargeopening, a heating unit mounted in said housing, a longitudinallyextending damper blade having a curved cross section wherein the concavesurface of said damper blade faces said discharg opening, hook meansformed on said blade along longitudinal portions thereof, aretainingclip having a pair of arms the ends of which are inserted into said hookmeans for supporting said curved damper blade on the retaining clip, abracket secured to said housing having a substantially horizontallyoriented member and a substantially vertically oriented member, an edgeportion of said substantially horizontally and vertically orientedmembers facing the air discharge opening, a non-yieldable open socketbearing positioned in the top front edge portion of said verticallyoriented member, and a semiloop formed in said retaining clip andseatable in said non-yieldable open socket bearing for pivotallysupporting said retaining clip on said bracket r to permit the damper tobe opened and closed. j

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said semi loop formed in saidretaining clip comprises flanges to prevent lateral displacement of saidsemi loop relative to said socket bearing.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,722,403 Guerra et al Nov. 1, 1955 2,793,607 Reynolds May 21, 19572,855,186 Brinen Oct. 7, 1958 2,869,450 Leigh Ian. 20, 1959 2 ,876,631Bailey Mar. 10, 1959 2,963,276 Nelson Dec. 6, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS92,590 Austria Oct. 25,1957

1. A BASEBOARD RADIATOR COMPRISING A HOUSING HAVING A REAR PANEL AND ATOP WALL, A HANGER BRACKET MOUNTED ON SAID REAR PANEL AND HAVING ARECESS OPENING FORMED THEREIN, A FRONT PANEL MOUNTED ON SAID HANGERBRACKET AND SPACED FROM SAID TOP WALL TO PROVIDE AN AIR DISCHARGEOPENING, A HEATING UNIT MOUNTED IN SAID HOUSING, A LONGITUDINALLYEXTENDING DAMPER BLADE HAVING A CURVED CROSS SECTION WHEREIN THE CONCAVESURFACE OF SAID DAMPER BLADE FACES SAID DISCHARGE OPENING, HOOK MEANSFORMED ON SAID BLADE ALONG LONGITUDINAL PORTIONS THEREOF, A RETAININGCLIP HAVING A PAIR OF ARMS THE ENDS OF WHICH ARE INSERTED INTO SAID HOOKMEANS FOR SUPPORTING SAID CURVED DAMPER BLADE ON THE RETAINING CLIP, ABRACKET SECURED TO SAID